After the penultimate matchday, Lazio and Galatasaray are the sole survivors in their group. The Biancocelesti prevailed in Russia, scoring three goals in the second half, two of which from the penalty spot. The Turkish side, which bested Olympique Marseille, holds a three-point lead heading into the final game. The first-placed side will advance directly to the knockout stage. Instead, the runner-up will go through the new playoff against the clubs relegated from Champions League.
Maurizio Sarri mostly went with his starters, with the returning Ciro Immobile spearheading the frontline. Only Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Manuel Lazzari got a partial breather. The first half was a war of attrition between the two sides. The rhythm was slow and the defenses on point. Lazio had a pair of opportunities with headers on corner kicks. However, neither Francesco Acerbi nor Tomas Basic could hit the net, due to a goal-line clearance in the second case. Konstantin Maradishvili put wide the most threatening shot for Lokomotiv Moscow.
The Biancocelesti broke through ten minutes after intermission. Mattia Zaccagni shook free in the box and got tackled by Aleksandr Silyanov. The referee awarded the PK after a VAR review, and Immobile converted him. The striker drew a more debatable one seven minutes later as he got slightly clipped by Dimitri Barinov, and he bagged it again.
Lazio took control of the match at this point and had a few chances to enlarge the lead. Pedro and Francesco Acerbi missed two clear-cut ones in the one-on-one with the opposing goalkeeper on quick counter-attacks. The Spanish attacker did manage to round out the score later on. At the 87th minute, he corralled the ball from 20 meters out, duped a defender, and slotted it in the bottom corner.